What prominent issues of the year will Táo Quân 2018 highlight?

Táo Quân 2018 was overflowing with entertainment and educational content.

The Táo Quân (Kitchen Gods) team has entered its third rehearsal session. The artists are still rehearsing together through the night, after completing their work at their respective workplaces and family responsibilities, as is "usual." At the first session, Meritorious Artist Chí Trung was unable to attend due to work commitments, leading many to suspect he wasn't invited to participate in this year's Táo Quân. However, his appearance at recent rehearsals has dispelled all doubts and further excited the audience.

Thus, the cast of this year's Táo Quân (Kitchen Gods) show remains largely unchanged compared to previous years. Besides the artists who have been associated with the program for many years: Meritorious Artist Chí Trung, Meritorious Artist Công Lý, Meritorious Artist Quang Thắng, Meritorious Artist Quốc Khánh, People's Artist Tự Long, Meritorious Artist Xuân Bắc, Vân Dung, there are also younger faces like Dũng “hớn”, Trung “ruồi”… who have participated in Táo Quân in previous years.

Despite their age and the cold weather, the artists continued to practice diligently through the night.

What audiences are most interested in is what pressing issues this year's Táo Quân (Kitchen Gods) show will address. These issues will not only provide laughter but also voice the concerns of many people regarding the shortcomings, limitations, and problems of the past year.

When asked about this, Meritorious Artist Do Thanh Hai, the person in charge of the program, always replied: "The script is still in its framework form and needs to go through many revisions, so I can't reveal anything specific about the program's content yet."

However, according to many predictions, among the "hot" issues that are causing public uproar and that Táo Quân (the annual Lunar New Year comedy show) can hardly ignore are the resounding victory of the Vietnamese national team at the 2018 AFF Cup; the rise of Vietnamese beauty queens on the international beauty pageant stage, specifically Khánh Phương's achievement as Miss Earth, H'Hen Niê's Top 5 finish at Miss Universe 2018, and Nguyễn Hương Giang's Miss International Transgender 2018 title; and the widespread impact of a series of popular television dramas such as "Quỳnh Búp Bê," "Ngày Ấy Mình Đã Yêu," "Gạo Nếp Gạo Tẻ," "Cả Một Đời Ân Ốn," and "Chạy Trốn Thanh Xuân"...

Besides that, there have been shocking incidents in the field of education such as: the controversy surrounding the educational technology textbook for first-grade Vietnamese; the draft proposal to penalize teacher-training students for prostitution; the teacher forcing students to drink blackboard cleaning water in Hai Phong; the teacher slapping students in Quang Binh; the teacher sexually abusing male students in Phu Tho; the male student humiliating and strangling a teacher in front of the whole class in Ben Tre... and the unprecedented exam cheating scandals in the history of the education sector in Ha Giang, Lang Son, Hoa Binh…

Furthermore, according to many, the incident of 500 contract teachers losing their jobs in Dak Lak and the 76,000 vacant permanent positions, as calculated by the Ministry of Education and Training, once again highlight the overlapping recruitment and employment practices that have existed for many years… and these issues also deserve to be included in the Tet Comedy Show.

In the socio-economic sphere, the most prominent issues are the trials of major corruption cases, notably the bust of a multi-billion dollar gambling ring and corruption within large economic corporations. Additionally, the "62-26" love story in Cao Bang, which garnered significant media attention, is unlikely to escape the scrutiny of the Táo Quân (Kitchen Gods) show.

This year, the entertainment industry alone has no shortage of scandals that Táo Quân could use as material to complete the multifaceted picture of life and society in 2018, such as: the case of Lại Thanh Hương being criticized for wearing inappropriate clothing to welcome the Vietnamese U23 team on a private plane; the "fake relationship - real relationship" affair between Kiều Minh Tuấn, An Nguy, and Cát Phượng; the case of the beauty queen arrested for prostitution and the model accusing an artist of sexual abuse for painting nude art…

Artists understand each other's tastes and preferences!

An artist in the Táo Quân team jokingly said, "This year's Táo Quân script is as thick as ever, and it's hard to read without glasses, but wearing glasses makes my eyes tired."

Meritorious Artist Cong Ly, however, stated: “Every year, the 'Tao Quan' show receives a lot of attention. I can only say that 'Tao Quan 2019' will be very special, closely following the hottest events of the year through the funniest lens. Let's all eagerly await the program on the evening of the 30th of Tet this year.”

According to artist Cong Ly, the artists participating in Tao Quan understand each other so well that they even know each other's preferences and tastes.

The male artist further explained that every year when the Táo Quân season comes around, the initial feeling when invited to participate in the program is... fear. Fear because the series of rehearsals makes all the artists feel exhausted.

"At the end of the year, everyone is 'racing against time,' working during the day, dealing with office work and other outside matters, and then staying up late at night rehearsing for the Tet Comedy Show. Honestly, making this show is extremely stressful because it's always eagerly awaited, so everyone is tense. It's great when people praise it, but it also creates pressure like, 'Next year, what can we do to ensure the audience isn't disappointed, at least something as good as last year?'"

Meritorious Artist Cong Ly said that the audience's praise and criticism after each season of Tao Quan has become so commonplace that people consider it normal. For him, a mass-market artistic product should naturally attract public attention, both praise and criticism. While many people may prefer praise, he personally enjoys criticism to assess whether the program has achieved its goals and, if not, to improve in future Tao Quan seasons.

However, what excited this male artist the most was that the cast members of the show all understood each other. Because they understood each other, they were in sync in their performances, seamlessly interacting without even needing to wink.

“Tet Comedy Show is a special program, with a unique style unlike any other. Because we've been together for so long, we interact and improvise without any difficulty. With just one joke, I already know what my co-star is going to say next. It's so much fun! What I remember most is how much the artists love and understand each other. We even know each other's tastes – what dishes this guy likes, what flavors that woman prefers, and we bring each other delicious food we have at home. That's something precious about artists like us,” added Meritorious Artist Cong Ly.